Dose the language shape out thought , Naif Alshareef

 by Betty Birner

 

     The writer at the beginning tries to address the issue of is it true Language shape out thought then he provides  some explanation and examples. He explains that the issue is complicated to give a straight answer. Our thoughts shapes not only by language , in face there are other factors like culture. The writer provide an example of a language is spoken by native people in Australia in Queensland. The language dose not have terms for right or left instead they use east , west , north, and south. While English Speakers use left and right for direction. So the question dose the language shape the way we think and perceive the world. Obviously, the culture , the world , and habit thought come all together to shape out thoughts.

   Another factor the language show how people think differently. For instance in English, the speaker focus more on the time and the form of the verb , while the speaker of Hopi , they focus more on the source of the information and that shows how they think differently.

   The author also provides another characteristics in language that show how we think differently by language like the syntax of the language. Basically, the language is show the way we think eventhough sometimes is there is no terminology in the language  for the  concept that we have in our mind, but still that concept exist in our thoughts.



http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/does-language-i-speak-influence-way-i-think